Old Escambia probation building demolished. Why it was torn down.

The old Escambia County Probation Department building at 2251 N. Palafox is being torn down.

Escambia County owns the property and crews began demolishing the building on Thursday. It was built in 1957 and has 31,622 square feet of space. The county considered rehabilitating the property, but repeated problems with flooding led to it being condemned.

Natural springs in the area contributed to ongoing flooding in the building’s basement, which led to pumps being installed to keep out the water. The building was also damaged by flooding in 2014 and again in 2020 by Hurricane Sally.

FEMA funds drainage project: Escambia keeps flooding, but a $4.5M stormwater project may help keep these streets above water

The county had considered building a retention pond on the property as part of a wider effort to address drainage problems in the area , but the same flooding issues that plagued the old probation building made that it impossible, too. Escambia engineers evaluated the site and determined it’s too close to the water table to make an effective retention pond.

“That was a parcel that was looked at for a pond or some type of detention, but after some geotechnical investigation, the groundwater table is too high, so it doesn't really function for our needs,” explained Robert McCracken, Escambia County engineering and construction management division manager. “Due to the subsurface conditions, it's not really suited for that.”

The county is still looking for a site that would make for a suitable retention pond in the area, which is near the city/county line on the border of North Hill and floods often because it is already low-lying. In June 2023, flooding was so high at the corner of Maxwell and North Palafox streets that dozens of families and individuals staying at the Max-Well Respite Center for people experiencing homelessness were forced to evacuate . The center is across the street from the probation building property.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to award Escambia County $4.5 million toward projects they hope will help improve drainage in the area.

“We’re still working on addressing drainage in the area,” McCracken said. “We’re looking for a place to put a stormwater retention pond to help ease the flow of runoff filling up the Long Hollow Pond, which stays full because all this area drains to the city Long Hollow Pond, which is typically overtaxed. The more detention we can put upstream from that in this train of conveyance for the stormwater, that helps hold some of this water before it gets to the Long Hollow Pond.”

The county considered installing a retention pond at several locations in the vicinity including Pensacola High School and a couple of county owned properties, like the parking lot of Community Health Northwest Florida Walk-In Care at North Palafox Street, which has also struggled with flooding issues the past.

No decision has been made yet for a new retention pond location and there is currently no plan to do anything with the property once the building is gone, like sell or reuse the property. Demolition of the entire property is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Once it's done, the area will be grassed and will have a fence around it.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Old Escambia probation building demolished. Why it was torn down.